Winter marks the end of intensive lawn care in most places. As the temperature of the air drops, the lawn’s cravings to grow do as well.

Most strains of grass will turn dormant throughout the winter and stop growing. They will do just enough to stay alive, but that’s about it.

This means you’ll be out on the lawn mower much less than you normally would be. Just as long as you continue watering the grass, there’s not much more you can do right?

Since the grass isn’t growing, you don’t need to cut it as often. Nor should you worry about what you do with it during this time.

You’d like to put it out of your mind for the next few months. It will be a nice break in comparison to the craziness of summer.

This is almost the exact way you should be thinking. Winter does offer you a nice break from the weekly maintenance that a lawn usually requires.

Don’t forget about it altogether though. Instead, keep an eye on it throughout the next 3 to 5 months to make sure it grows green and strong again when spring comes.

Throughout the winter, be aware of a few things. Keep the lawn free from debris. This means removing all the leaves from fall, the grass clippings from mowing and any toys, tools or other debris left in the lawn.

Just like leaving food on your teeth without brushing, leaving things on your lawn only hurts it and invites disease. The last few mows you do before winter officially begins, mow it at a couple notches lower than you normally would.

Buzz it so that it won’t smother itself. Watch out for excessive traffic over the next few months.

The more a particular path is consistently trodden, the less likely it will be to grow back the next year. Dormant grass can’t take as much abuse as lively grass.

Anything you do to it during the cold months will have long-term effects when it comes time to wake up again. Don’t let a particular path become a permanent fixture in your lawn.

Encourage people to use the sidewalk as often as possible. If you do see a path developing, ask people to use a new one instead.

Pets can be harder to teach to do this. You don’t usually have to worry about cats when it comes to this.

They are light on their feet and don’t weigh very much period. What you have to watch out for are dogs.

They get into habits of running the same path over and over again, multiple times a day. Those habits have to be broken.

The most you could do is periodically move the location of anything they normally run to—like a house, their toys or outdoor watering bowl. This will trick them into changing their movement patterns and allow your lawn to have a rest.

These tips are brought to you by Weed Pro, experts in lawn care in any season. Weed Pro services can be sought out in Cleveland West, Cleveland East, Akron, and Columbus, OH areas.